Amazon's new till-less supermarkets threaten “considerable” job losses if rivals follow suit.
The online giant opened its first Amazon Fresh store outside the US yesterday.
The hi-tech branch in Ealing, west London, lets shoppers simply walk out with their purchases.
Amazon customers scan a QR code as they enter, then put items in their bag, with a network of cameras and sensors detecting what they have picked.
Purchases are then charged to their account when they have finished.
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Amazon’s Matt Birch said it offered a “super fast, friction free way to shop”.
Rival supermarkets will be watching it closely, with some already trialling till-less stores.
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, warned it would have a huge impact on jobs if others follow suit.
“This is a cashless and cardless operation so think of all the people that affects, not just in stores but in banks too?,” he said.
“It is absolutely going to lead to a considerable reduction in roles for people at head office and in branches.”
Mr Black predicted Amazon, rather than open hundreds of new Amazon Fresh stores, might snap-up an existing supermarket chain instead, with Morrisons and northern chain Booth’s among those he mentions.
Amazon already owns the small Whole Food Markets chain.
Last year saw Amazon’s UK sales surge 51% to £19.4billion.
It came as experts predicted a “super deduction” announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in this week’s Budget would wipe out Amazon’s UK corporation tax bill in future years.
Firms are allowed to use the tax break on investments to offset against profits.
Amazon has argued that heavy investment since it arrived in the UK two decades ago is one reasons it had paid so little corporation tax.
George Turner, executive director at the group TaxWatch, said: “It is highly questionable as to whether a tax cut for Amazon today is the best use of public money.”
